Postgame extra: Wood was good

The Reds kind of got away with one Thursday during a 3-2 win over the Cubs in 10 innings. There were 16 hits, and only three runs? Yowza.

The good —

*Travis Wood had a mighty nice debut and he was the biggest reason the Reds won the game — even if he wasn’t in the final decision. Wood took a two-hit shutout into the eighth inning before two walks undid a chance to win. He threw only 91 pitches and had four single-digit pitched innings.

*Wood retired 13 in a row at one point and 15 of 16. He topped out at 92 mph several times and had a full arsenal of cutters and changeups working.

“For a guy to come up in his first start and throw 10-11 pitches per inning for seven innings, especially at Wrigley Field, it’s something you really don’t see too much,” catcher Corky Miller said. “He did what he was supposed to do.”

*Scott Rolen turned a strong inning-ending double play in the eighth after the game was tied on Derrek Lee’s broken bat grounder. Had it not been turned, the Cubs would’ve taken the lead.

*Jay Bruce’s slide to break up the double play in the 10th on might have been out of the baseline but it was hard-nosed baseball right there.

“We’re taught to play the game a certain way,” Bruce said. “That’s how I play it and how we play it on this team. It does help win games. I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone or anything like that. I was trying to prevent them from turning the double play.”

The not-so-good –

*Did I mention 16 hits and only three runs? The Reds were 2-for-11 RISP and stranded 13.

“We had plenty of chances,” manager Dusty Baker said. “Rarely are you going to see 16 hits and three runs. We left a lot of guys out there but we kept the pressure on them and eeked one across in the 10th inning.”

*Nick Masset hadn’t allowed a hit in his last five appearances, but gave it up today after inheriting the 2-0 lead. After Wood’s two walks to start the eighth, a sac bunt and Tyler Colvin’s single tied the game.

Background info —

Dusty Baker said that Arthur Rhodes and Bill Bray were not available for this game. Rhodes pitched the last two games and Bray pitched two games in a row and warmed up Wednesday.

More quotes –

“I got the zone, my pitches were working well and I was able to throw most of them for strikes and things were going my way.” — Travis Wood

“I saw him when he was 18 years old and we were both in the GCL together, roommates. He’s doing what he did. He’s learned how to pitch and use his stuff. He did great today. He came in here like it was any other outing in any other place and shut the Cubs down for seven innings.” — Jay Bruce on Wood.

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